Vigil for Aaron Bushnell in Washington DC, February 26, 2024 -- image via the Party of Socialism and Liberation on X
By Global News Service
Aaron Bushnell, an active duty member of the U.S. Air Force, set himself on fire in front of the Israeli embassy in Washington DC on February 25. He was protesting Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza and the U.S.’s support for the war.
Bushnell livestreamed what he called an “extreme act of protest” on Twitch, stating, “I am an active duty member of the U.S. Air Force and I will no longer be complicit in genocide. I am about to engage in an extreme act of protest, but compared to what people have been experiencing in Palestine at the hands of their colonizers, it is not extreme at all. This is what our ruling class has decided will be normal.”
In the video, which has since been taken down by Twitch, 25-year-old Bushnell, wearing his uniform, poured liquid on himself and set himself on fire. He shouted “Free Palestine” after he set himself on fire, continuing to chant even as he was engulfed in flames. Emergency responders rushed to the scene, including an intelligence agent who pointed a gun at Bushnell as he was on fire, while another sprayed him with a fire extinguisher. He was then rushed to a hospital with critical injuries which he later succumbed to.
In December, a protester set herself on fire outside the Israeli consulate in Atlanta.
from the Peoples Dispatch / Globetrotter News Service